Horton Hears a Who!
Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! is a 2008 American computer-animated adventure comedy film based on the Dr. Seuss' book of the same name. The film was directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino, and was produced by Blue Sky Studios. It features the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell. Released on March 14, 2008 by 20th Century Fox, it received generally positive reviews, and grossed $297 million on a budget of $85 million. The film is the third Dr. Seuss feature film adaptation, the second Dr. Seuss film starring Jim Carrey after How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and the first adaptation of a Dr. Seuss work fully animated using CGI technology. Plot A dust speck is dislodged from its obscure place and sent adrift through the Jungle of Nool. At the same time, Horton the elephant, the jungle's eccentric nature teacher, takes a dip in the pool. The dust speck floats past him in the air, and he hears a tiny yelp coming from it. Believing that an entire society of microscopic creatures are living on that speck, he places it atop a clover. Horton finds out the speck harbors the city of Whoville and its inhabitants, led by Mayor Ned McDodd (Steve Carell). He has a wife, Sally (Amy Poehler), 96 daughters (whose names all begin with the letter H), and one teenage son named JoJo (Jesse McCartney). Despite being the oldest and next in line for the mayoral position, JoJo doesn't want to be mayor, and because he's so scared of disappointing his father, he rarely ever speaks. Once Horton begins carrying the speck with him, the city starts experiencing strange phenomena (earthquakes and changes in solar lighting), and the Mayor finds his attempts to caution Whoville challenged by the Town Council, led by the opportunistic yet condescending Chairman (Dan Fogler). The Mayor finds out from Dr. LaRue (Isla Fisher) that Whoville will be destroyed if Horton does not find a "safer, more stable home." Horton resolves to place the speck atop Mt. Nool, the safest place in the jungle. The Sour Kangaroo (Carol Burnett), not believing Horton's beliefs, (and holding a personal grudge against him for always overshadowing her authority) attempts several times to demand that Horton give up the speck, but Horton does not and defies her. Also taking force toward Horton are the Wickersham Brothers, a group of bullying monkeys who love making misery. Eventually, the furious Kangaroo, upon learning Horton's defiance, enlists a vulture named Vlad Vladikoff (Will Arnett) to get rid of the speck by force. Vlad manages to steal the clover away from Horton and drops it into a massive field of identical pink clovers and the clover falls down with a deafening explosion, causing Whoville to fall into pieces. After unsuccessfully picking nearly 3,000,000 clovers, Horton eventually recovers the clover (exactly the 3,000,000th clover). The Kangaroo finds out that Horton still has the speck, and decides to rally the jungle community into confronting Horton by telling lies that Horton's goal will lead to anarchy. Upon cornering him, the Kangaroo offers Horton to escape punishment by renouncing Whoville's existence. When Horton refuses, in spite of his heartfelt speech, she orders the animals to rope and cage him, and to have the speck and the Whos destroyed in a pot of acidic beezelnut oil. The Mayor enlists all of his people to make noise by shouting "We are here!", as well as playing a variety of instruments, so the animals may hear them, assisted by Jojo's "Symphonophone", an invention which creates a huge musical contribution, but still fails to penetrate the surface. As Horton lies beaten and captured, Kangaroo easily takes the clover, and slowly drops it towards the boiling oil. At the last minute, JoJo grabs the horn used to project Horton's voice, runs up the highest tower and yells "YOPP!", breaking through the sound barrier (and finally speaking for the first time in the film) just before the speck hits the oil. Kangaroo's son, Rudy (Josh Flitter) grabs the clover and returns it to Horton, refusing his mother's orders to return to her pouch. The animals realize that Horton was right and, thinking that she was just trying to crush Horton's spirit and build her own reputation in the jungle, shun the Kangaroo for tricking them. While being praised for his integrity by his neighbors, Horton even forgives the Kangaroo, and she gratefully accepts his friendship with a makeshift umbrella for Whoville. Here, the people of Whoville and the animals of Nool gather in song and recite the chorus from "Can't Fight This Feeling". The film ends with the narrator revealing that the Jungle of Nool, or rather Earth, is just one speck, like Whoville, among numerous others, floating in the universe. Voice cast *Jim Carrey as Horton - a kindhearted, sweet, friendly, and stalwart elephant. Horton has no tusks, lives by himself and possesses acute hearing abilities. *Steve Carell as Mayor Ned McDodd, the mayor of Whoville. He has 96 daughters, 1 son named JoJo and his wife Sally. *Carol Burnett as the Sour (or Jane) Kangaroo *Will Arnett as Vlad Vladikoff, a vulture *Seth Rogen as Morton the mouse, Horton's best friend in the Jungle of Nool *Amy Poehler as Sally O'Malley, Ned's wife and mother to Jojo and 96 daughters *Dan Fogler as the Councilman and Yummo Wickersham *Jesse McCartney as JoJo, Ned's son *Isla Fisher as Doctor Mary Lou LaRue, a teacher at Who U. *Laura Ortiz as Jessica *Jonah Hill as Tommy *Jaime Pressly as Mrs. Quilligan, Jessica's mother *Niecy Nash as Miss Yelp *Selena Gomez as Helga, one of the mayor's daughters *Josh Flitter as Rudy, the Sour Kangaroo's son *Joey King as Katie, a cute little baby yak *Charles Osgood as The Narrator Category:Films Category:2008 release Category:Jim Carrey films